Update

It's been five months since my last post. With two tiny tots, 1500 sq feet to manage, and a husband to feed, clothe, and love, my blogging time is limited. The time that was once used for blogging during Baby Sister's morning nap time is now used for homeschooling with Big Girl. So here are a few tidbits on the last five months in the Kidd home. 

Homeschool with Big Girl

Our homeschool adventure began in the last few days of 2014. We started out pretty well with tons of zeal...for the first week. During that time, I took note of some changes that needed to be made. Namely, Big Girl needed to be harnessed. Ha. 

The second week was pretty choppy, the third week even worse, and then came...the plague. Each member of our family had one illness or another for the entire winter and into spring, from common colds that lasted a month to multiple ear infections to stomach bugs all around. 

By spring break, we had gotten through most of our sickness, and I was ready to get started again. We have just completed week nine, and Big Girl lives for "school time" now. I am so amazed by how quickly she's learning. She is sponging everything she's exposed to. 

In an upcoming post, I'll share my goals and objectives for her during this season, links to my resources, and a sample of what "school time" looks like for us. For now, here's a look back at the beginning of our homeschool journey.

Gazelle Intense (Mostly)

I last left you with a serious cliffhanger about our financial plans. We've made great progress so far in 2015 and we're on track to be finished with Baby Step 3 in Dave Ramsey's 7 Baby Steps to Financial Freedom by the end of this year! 

In the last post, we announced our brand new debt free status. Since then, we've been sticking to our budget, putting back our spare nickels and dimes, and selling off all our junk and some of our good stuff (including MisterKidd's recently paid-for truck) to finish our fully-funded emergency fund.

God has been so gracious to give us the tools to be better stewards of our money. I try not to remember all of the resources we've wasted over the years that could have been spared through better planning. We could already be giving like no one else. But His plans are best, every time. 

Put Not Your Trust in Plexus

There is a phenomenon happening. You've heard the chatter and seen the posts on social media. You know as few as one and as many as a dozen people who are "drinking the Koolaid." 

MisterKidd and I strive to be good stewards of our time, our marriage, our kids, our money, our home...you get the idea. We try to be mindful of the fact that everything was given to us as a gift, and we need to do the best we can with it. (P.S. We for sure fail often.) One area we had been neglecting for the past couple years was our bodies. Two pregnancies in two years is hard on a woman's body, so a man appropriately sympathizes...

We got serious about our health in January by doing tons of research and eventually settled on a modified paleo diet (our rules: grain-free, whole foods, and little to no sugar). We did so well for the first few months and lost THE INCHES (we don't have a scale, so I'm not sure about lbs), but we could not kick the cravings. If one of us was weak, the other was right there in full support, true Adam and Eve style. 

And then came Plexus.

I've been through a few different phases with this whole Plexus thing: indifference, annoyance, curiosity, interest, waiting, and finally, trying it. I vow this very moment not to become a Plexus blogger, so my mention of it will be succinct, starting now with three thoughts:

1. I'm not trying to lose hundreds of pounds or treat a major illness or issue. I just want to be healthy. I know I can say no to myself and do pretty well on my own. Two sizes in four months proves that. But I've been hearing some talk about "leaky guts" that intrigues me, and I want to be the best version of myself that I can be so I can do the most good work for others. 

2. I'm interested to see what healing my possibly leaky gut will do for my overall health. Chasing having two toddlers is draining for sure, but do I have to want a nap every. single. day? I've heard so many success stories from people I trust who range from slightly crunchy like me to as green as can be, people with very serious conditions who now feel better than they have in years from healing their digestive systems through using Plexus products.

3. Plexus is not Jesus. It is not a source of joy or salvation. It can do nothing for your heart in regards to eternity. The Gospel is still the point, the means, and the end of everything. Plexus is a tool, much like food, used to sustain us in this life until we no longer need these sinful bodies. 

Today is Day One for MisterKidd and me on this Plexus journey. I'll let you know if anything worth mentioning happens...

If you feel like hopping on the bandwagon with me, send me your questions and I'll get you an answer. You can also order here if you're ready, like, now.

I had a Plastectomy.

MisterKidd and I recently accomplished a feat that only a few adults ever will (and even fewer will ever want to). It took sweat, tears, crushed pride, and lots of NO, but we made it.

Except for the mortgage on our home, the Kidd family is debt free.

We don't owe any of you fools any money. We're square. We've cut up the cards (plastectomy), burnt the envelopes, and reallocated that income to bigger and better things. Our items are officially ours, we're finished borrowing them, and

we are never going back.

We shared this news with 1,500 of our closest friends last night and got a ton of feedback, so much that I decided to share a little about our journey so far (no, we're not finished yet) and give some practical tips. MisterKidd and I agreed that we wouldn't share in detail about our journey until we were completely finished, but I am realizing how big of an accomplishment this step is from all of the questions we've had today. I think it seems so far away for some of you, and I want to help you understand how attainable it actually is! You can do this!

We have always been money conscious people. We both come from families that taught us to work hard. My mama taught me that if you don't pay your bills early, they're late. Before, we were broke college students, then we got married and became a broke college student and a server at IHOP. Now, we are a SAHM and a non-profit worker. Fortune 500 has never been a part of our description.

Because of our "try hard" nature, I have always pushed myself to manage our money well and cut our expenses where I could. I have grocery shopping down to a science; we are conscious of our energy and water usage; we don't make large, frivolous purchases. But something just wasn't adding up. Money was slipping through the cracks somewhere every month, but I had no record of where it was going because we have always used cash (after over-drafting our checking account several times early in marriage).

We were so tired of living paycheck to paycheck. Our bills were always paid on time, but it seemed like we could not get a handle on our money. Then we began the home buying process and were forced to scrutinize our finances. Everyone involved, including us, wanted to know if we could actually afford to buy a house.

Enter: Dave Ramsey

I checked a book out from the library, and MisterKidd was given a copy of it. We stayed up late every night for a few days reading and talking and planning and getting angry at our debt. It was a magical time. 

That was six months ago. We are now on Baby Step Three of Dave Ramsey's Seven Baby Steps to Financial Freedom as outlined in his book, The Total Money Makeover. We're not even halfway through our goals, and I already feel like our financial life has been completely changed for good. There are only great things to come.

I don't want to repeat everything from the book and/or website that you could read on your own, so I will just share a few things that have really changed our viewpoint when it comes to our finances.

Debt is Debt.

If you have a loan from a bank for a car, truck, boat, house, business, or scooter, you are in debt. You have a thing that you use that belongs to someone else. If you have a credit card and you use it to pay for furniture, clothes, food, or toilet paper, you are in debt. You have a thing that you use that belongs to someone else. If that loan or credit card has interest of any kind, you are paying extra to borrow that thing until you finish paying for the thing. You are in debt. You might be $3000 in debt, you might be $85,000 in debt, but debt is debt. (This might be obvious to some, but it wasn't to us. Be encouraged if it wasn't to you, either.)

Debt is Bad.

Proverbs 22:7 says "...the borrower becomes the lender's slave." Before Christ, I was a slave to my sin and my flesh (Eph. 2:3). I did whatever my sin wanted, which was ultimately to destroy me. In Christ, I am to be a slave to no one but Him. Thankfully, he only wants my good (Romans 8:28). By being in debt, I am choosing slavery to someone or something else. I am saying that what I want right now (car, boat, house, furniture) is more important than the freedom Christ offers me in Him.

Romans 13:8 tells us to "owe no one anything, except to love each other..." WOW. Does Capital One count, Paul? I think it does. The only thing you should owe to another person is love. In our culture, our money and good credit are owed to us for our hard work, and our love is reserved as a gift. I think we've missed the mark on that one as well.

Don't Bible, Bro?** Let's explore "Debt is Bad" from a logical standpoint. You need a new car (or you feel like you might possibly want a new car), so you go to the dealership and pick out a brand new [insert car of your dreams]. You sit down at the desk with the guy, get approved for the loan, sign the papers, get the keys, and drive away. BAM. Your car is now worth half of what it was 20 minutes ago, and you will pay thousands more for it than the sticker price. 

It's called "interest," which makes it sound harmless, good even. I mean, it rhymes with Pinterest...but it should be called "the extra money you have to pay because you actually can't afford to buy this car." It's like a penalty for poor planning. 

Here's Dave's solution to the cycle of debt that is car buying.

Budgets are Essential. 

The old me thought that my "budget" was a list of my bills. We needed to bring in more than that number, and what was left over was just ours. I've learned that a budget must be zero-based to be effective; every penny must be accounted for and told where to go. I hadn't been doing anything close to that, so I was always left wondering where our money had gone. Now we have a strict budget and use that in conjuncture with the envelope system. The results are guilt-free purchases, personal discipline, and the ability to set and attain financial goals.



Later in the week, I'll post some of the actual myths and lies our ears have received about money management in the last six months, our plans moving forward, and maybe a word or two from my sponsor (MisterKidd) on how we plan to aquire things while remaining debt free. 


**Bro, you should Bible. Ask me anything.

#stopfacebookingyourperfectlife

Today was the first day of school for my Big Girl.

Yes, I can read a calendar. 

No, she didn't magically age three years overnight.

We are starting some "play with a purpose" now that Big Girl is two. She has breezed through recognition of upper and lower case letters with little effort on my part, so I know she is ready for more intentional learning. 

I have been researching, planning, and preparing for months, just waiting for her to be ready. I have dreamed about this day in great detail...

We would get up early and eat hearty, delicious, and frugal egg muffin cups from Pinterest for breakfast. Baby Sis would go down for her morning nap just after I finished the dishes so I could focus on Big Girl during "school time." After taking a "first day of school" photo by the chalk board, Big Girl (in her MudPie outfit and gigantic bow) and I would head downstairs to the designated schooling area of our house. We would then engage in age-appropriate and exciting learning adventures based on my carefully selected and slightly modified curriculum, which addressed language, math, fine-, and gross-motor skills. 

But that didn't happen. 

After staying up two hours too late getting my materials ready,

I was awoken 20 minutes after falling asleep by not one, but both girls, who proceeded to wake every few minutes for the next few hours. I lost all concept of time and woke for the day an hour after I had planned. I discovered a cranky Big Girl with a runny nose and a Baby Sis who was already napping. I was losing precious minutes of her naptime! I scrawled a "first day of school" flag on the board and begged Big Girl to stop crying long enough to take a decent picture ("I can't want to say keys!").

We helped Dad out the door just as Baby Sis was waking up 45 minutes too early. I decided to give up on the schedule I had planned for the morning. I made breakfast, which was rejected by my honest toddler, sat Baby Sis up with a new toy, and presented Big Girl with her brand new Tot Time Notebook.

The dry erase portion of the lesson started out ok...then she moved on to the binder, the lap tray, her hands, and her face. Big Girl 4, Mom 1.

We plugged through the rest of my plans fairly well, put Baby Sis down for her actual nap, and then headed to the garage for gross-motor time: Hop on Aa. This was a big hit--but it was mostly me carrying her from one A to the next!

Our first day of school lasted less than an hour total, including the time it took to rock Baby Sis back to sleep (twice). Tomorrow, I will modify and adjust some of our activities based on my reflection of today. Tomorrow, I still won't get it right, and that's ok.

God has given me the opportunity to be here with my girls every day, the knowledge to educate them, and the grace to look to him when I fail as a mom and a teacher. My messy-haired-Minnie-Mouse-pajama-wearing toddler, my unpainted and unswept garage, and my failed plans are not Pinterest-worthy.

It was the perfect day.

[Title credit to my sweet friend, Kerri, and her hashtag.]

I'm not gonna pretend I like the beach

Cruises are a big deal in the middle class right now. So is misusing prescription drugs, but I digress. Stereotype: middle-aged parents, teenage children, newly-weds, retirees trek to the coast from our landlock, board an insanely large vessel (Titanic is leaving Netflix this month--catch it before you book), float away to somewhere foreign, and instagram our brains out. I see these pictures and, depending on my mood, think either "how nice that you get to take a vacation" or

"I'm not gonna pretend I like the beach. Do you really like the beach? Sweat and sun and sand where not even daylight belongs. The salt wrecks my hair, the tan sunburn lasts a week, the shopping sucks. Don't pretend you like that t-shirt you paid $25 for that cost 50 cents to make. Why do we do this to ourselves, America? Is this to fulfill some weird desire to step outside your life here in the deltamountainsontheriver where you have to watch the news to know how to dress your kids tomorrow? Do you need to feel exotic? That's a lot of money you just promised to Capital One for some crappy instagram pictures. You can't really like the beach..."

Mister Kidd and I celebrated our wedding anniversary this week, and as usual, we spent a lot of time reflecting on our marriage.

[Implied Reader: But, weren't you just talking about the beach...? What's that have to do with your marriage?]

Hang on. I think I have a point around here somewhere.

Four years and two days ago, I became legally attached to the person I had been figuratively attached to for the four years before that. It was great and wonderful and fun to finally be able to have sleepovers with my best friend. The "honeymoon phase" was filled with so many new things. I thought, "If the first year is the hardest part of our marriage like everyone says, we'll be ok."

But over the past four years, we've learned that "everyone" don't really know what they're talking about. The hardest part of your marriage is not the first year, not a period of time at all. The hardest part of your marriage is fighting.


Fighting to love your spouse well.

Fighting for intimacy when you can't stand to see his stupid face anymore.

Fighting for joy when you want to take all the bill money and run away.

Fighting yourself and your pride when you want to rule him but you know it's his job to make the best decision for you, and he actually wants to, and he does. Every time, so far.

Fighting to keep him first in your heart after you create some people out of thin air and let them live inside you for the better part of a year.

Fighting to please God in your marriage rather than yourself. Or even him.


I've learned over the past four years of marriage (an eternity to some, a week to others) that the "honeymoon" not only doesn't end, but it doesn't even have to exist. You can always be enamored with each other. You can always be friends. You can always have the "spark." Culture doesn't think so, but culture wasn't told that it would be hard work, so it settled for unhappiness and unrest. It goes to the beach once a year for satisfaction, to feel fulfilled, renewed, young.

I have resolved to make the beach out of my little lot on a busy avenue in the suburbs. I don't have to board a ship to get that fleeting feeling of adventure and youth--I feel it every day at about 3p when I hear a truck pull in the driveway. I will seek God and choose to find my fun and rest in my husband.

But, y'all. Those towel animals. Am I right?

[Disclaimer: I am not condemning those who actually enjoy the beach as a vacation. I do challenge you, however, to make sure you actually like it and not just go because you think you should.]

If You Give a Wife a TV...

I'm eating my words and chowing down on a nice slice of humble pie. I hate to hear I told you so, but...

We recently started Dave Ramsey's 7 Baby Steps to being debt free. Millions of Americans are thousands of dollars in debt. We only have a measly couple thousand (except our home), but our frugal family wants that debt dead and buried. 

MisterKidd and I are already "gazelle intense" with everything we do. Since starting our debt free journey in June, we are well into Baby Step 2. It has taken serious discipline and a lot of saying "no" to ourselves to get here. Along with trying to save money, we've been looking for ways to earn more for our cause, including selling some of our stuff.

Enter: Serious Regret

I was doing a pre-move/debt free purge one day, and I set my sights on the bedroom TV. "It's so decadent to have two televisions," I thought. "We just need to read more books." I had been trying to talk MisterKidd into selling it for some time, but he always insisted that we used the TV more than I thought. We were dangerously close to completing Baby Step 1 at that point. So close we could taste it.

Marriages are made of opposites: a spender and a saver; a nerd and a cool kid; an introvert and an extrovert; a pack rat and a purger. I'm definitely the purger in my household, so I'm usually the one who goes on the selling sprees. Because we were trying to live like no one else, he finally agreed, and I posted it online that day. 

I sold it for way less than I wanted, way less than it was worth, but more than I had before I started. And then I felt the sting.

I'm not a TV junkie by any means. Some days (when I'm not postpartum and trying to keep a toddler occupied), it doesn't even get turned on. But I like to see a few Gilmore Girls episodes when I'm folding mountains of clean laundry on my bed. And I have a few "sick movies" that work better than any prescription ever could.

I sheepishly admitted my regret to MisterKidd, and he was very gracious (Ahem. "I knew you'd miss it!"). 

So the lesson I've learned is that there's a difference in having a 60 in TV in every room of your house and sitting huddled in the dark with no creature comforts in the name of being debt free. The balance is a tiny little TV in the bedroom. 

But if you give a wife a TV, she'll need a DVD player to go with it. Because I sold that, too. 

Tuesday Tidbits 10/7

It's Not Tuesday

Tuesday came and went this week without a new post here on Beautiful Functional. I'd like to say it was because I was busy all day doing something exciting. That's not true. I also didn't have any kind of emergency in my household.

It's not that I was too lazy to write. It's not that I was uninspired. I was even ready to reveal Tuesday Tidbits' new graphic that I created using Canva.

This week's Tuesday Tidbits is going up on Thursday because on Tuesday during "writing time," I was holding a sleeping baby. Baby Sister is going through an I-need-Mom-all-the-time-or-I-will-whine phase. And really, y'all, who would rather stare at a computer than try to burn that smooth, sweet face into their memory for all of eternity? Not this mama.

This is why I don't put on makeup. 

Is Scentsy wax toxic? Asking for a friend. A short, curly-haired, Frozen-loving friend. 

I spend tons of money on teething helps. Toys to chew on, pain relieving medicines, organic tablets, jewelry forged in the fires of Mordor, even an expensive giraffe, who recently released a series of novels. What helps when nothing else will? A good, clean knuckle. 

Blog Fun, Part 4

I've been highlighting a few of my favorite blogs on Tuesday Tidbits for the last several weeks. This week, it's Carisa from 1+1+1=1.

This site is a recent find, but it has quickly become a must-read for my homeschool planning. Carisa is a former Kindergarten teacher turned homeschool mom, and she blogs about what works for her family. She originally coined the phrase "Tot School" for kiddos who are too young for traditional Pre K materials. Because I'm overzealous and ready to get some structured fun time in with Big Girl, I've been looking for direction on where to begin with "under 3's." There are literally thousands of pages of content with ideas for materials and activities that are developmentally appropriate from birth to 3 (and beyond).

Signing up for her newsletter gets you the download link for her eBook, Where to Begin with Tot School, for those of you who, like me, get overwhelmed and excited like a puppy that has company (ha).

Tuesday Tidbits 10/14

Bargain Braggin'

I got a sweet deal today at Mom's Mecca. It was posted on Facebook by Money Saving Mom. Readers often share their bargains, and MSM passes them on to other readers through social media. It's a long one, so stay with me...

Target Brand (Up & Up) diapers are originally $28.99 per box. This week, they are on sale for $24.99 each. If you buy 2 boxes, you get a $10 Target gift card. There is a digital coupon circulating for $10 off a $40 purchase of Up & Up products. The Cartwheel App had a scan for 10% off Up & Up products. I have a Target RedCard, which gives me 5% off my purchase when I use it to pay. 

So with all of the discounts, I was able to get 316 diapers for $35 (including tax) and a $10 gift card. I pretty much got 2 boxes of diapers for $25. And with two in dipes, those will last me HOURS. (I kid. Maybe a couple days.)

MisterKidd says that it's not really a bargain if you get a gift card back because they're still getting your money. But he just doesn't know Target like I do. He doesn't understand the intricacies of my relationship. Target wouldn't cheat me like that. Target cares about me.

Villains

Stories, retellings, and parables in scripture often feature a hero and a villain. A deceiver and the deceived. Somebody who behaves as God would have him and somebody who doesn't. But before we label the characters, we have to check ourselves. 

My church is about to start a book in our community groups called "Ministries of Mercy" by Tim Keller. We are evangelically minded and hope to share Christ through compassion, and our leaders felt that this book would help us with the practical aspects of that goal. 

I started this book on Sunday and made it through the prologue with only about 85% of it highlighted. It was that good. 

Keller uses the parable of the Good Samaritan on the Jericho road (Luke 10:25-37) to set the stage for explaining what Christ thinks about mercy. I am always amazed at myself when studying these kinds of passages. When I first read, I think,"Ugh. A priest and a Levite, of course. Holier than thou. No time to stop by and help a brother out, even if he is bleeding from the head." And just like always, I start to find a little of myself in those who disobey the commands to love The Lord with everything you have and to love your neighbor as yourself. 

Keller's warning is that "we should not be too quick to scorn these men, or we may discover we are convicting ourselves." The Jericho road was a dangerous one. It was nicknamed "the bloody way," and for very good reasons: not only was it steep and rocky, but because of the twists and turns, it was common for ne'er-do-wells to hide, attack, and rob passers-by. This is what happened to the man lying in his blood. 

I can imagine the thoughts of the priest and the Levite. "Whoa. That dude is mangled. Where there's smoke, there's fire. I'm outta here, but I'll let somebody know he's here. That's good enough."

And I can't say that I'd be any different. 

What is in our hearts in situations like this one? Self-preservation. The fact that "self" might be harmed, or at the very least, made to feel uncomfortable. If loving your neighbor as yourself means giving your neighbor the kind of care and attention you would hope for yourself, how can we possibly leave a man in his blood?

There is so much GOSPEL in this parable. God saw you in your blood and said, "LIVE!" (Ezekiel 16:6) if you are His. And He sent Christ to bandage your wounds and take you to safety. Ultimate compassion was shown to you, and your responsibility is to "go and do likewise." (Luke 10:37)

But how should I apply this to myself, today? I don't know. I've only read the prologue.

Blog Fun, Part 5

This week, I'm featuring Matt and Betsy from DIYNatural. 

DIYNatural is my personal authority for natural living. They have articles for almost every topic imaginable: remedies for colds and other illnesses, natural cleaners, organic gardening and eating, frugal finances, and so much more. One thing I really appreciate is that Matt and Betsy test everything before they post about it. Each recipe is perfected and experts are consulted before they present content to the public. Thanks for being guinea pigs, Matt and Betsy.

This site is a great place to start for those just beginning their natural journey and for people like me, who hang out at the starting line for five some years.

Next week will be the final Blog Fun Tidbit, and it will knock your socks off.
Hint: my food hero. Not Mom, but the other one.